Hydraulically operable side-wall coring tool



March 27, 1951 J. H. KIRBY, 11

HYDRAULICALLY OPERABLE SIDE-WALL CURING TOOL 2 Sheets-s 1 Filed Dec 5 6 INVENTOR JOHN H K: RE

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March 27, 1951 KIRBYH 2,546,670

HYDRAULICALLY OPERABLE SIDE'WALL CORING TOOL Filed Dec. 5, 1946 2 Sheets$heet 2 M Q j I I Fig, 4

INVENTOR. JOHN H. KIRBY II BY Jim 6. 02M:

Patented Mar. 27, 1951 HYDRAULICALLY .OPERABLE sins-WALL CORING TOOL John .H. Kirby, II, Houston, Tex.

Application December 5, 1946, Serial No.714,'324 I e The invention relates to a sidewall coring or sampling tool which is self contained so as to .be manipulated in a well bore and operated hydraulically to obtain sidewall samples. This application is a companion application to my copending applications Serial No. 630,199 and SerialNo.667.,798.

. v It is one of the objects of the invention to provide a sampling tool which may be quickly low- :ered into and removed from the well bore so as to obtain asample.

Another object. of the invention is to provide a .sidewall sampling tool where the core member is extended laterally from the tool while the tool -is urged toward the side of the bore tobe sampled.

Another object of the invention is to'provide --a sidewall coring tool whereina single motor effects rotation of the coring member and the :si-

lnultaneous radial extension thereof.

- Another object of theinvention is to provide a sidewall sampling tool which is extended hydraulically while being rotated by the mechanical application of power. 7

A still further object of the invention is to pro- 'vide a sidewall coring member extensible by a QFig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the lower portion of the tool and illustrating the coring tool as partly extended.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 and illustrating a train'of gears for effecting ro- "tationof the coring member. U

3 r Fig. 4 is -a section. taken on the line 4+4 of Fig. 2 and illustratingthe linkage connection for extending a coringmember.

Fig. 5 is an illustrative view showing the tool in actual operation.

In Fig. 5 a well bore 2 has been drilled in the usual manner and it is now desired to sample a formation such as 3 so as to determine the contents-thereof. With this in mind, the tool Ii is made up of the housing '1, the upper end of which is shown in Fig. 1. This housing is closed by an upper plug 3 threaded to a fishing nipple 9 which is in turn closed by a cap I0. I

A removable nipple i I has the cable 12 an- 5 Claims. (01. 255- 4) 2 chored in the collar l3 therein. The pins ll" may be sheared upon sufiicient pull on the cable in event the tool becomes lodged in the well so that the cable may be thus salvaged.

The conductor portion I4 of the cable is made up of a plurality of wires [5, three of which extend into the motor 16 while the fourth wire H serves as a signal wire as will be explained later.

The motor [6 is a suitable type of reversible electric motor and is arranged to drive the shaft 2!] and a reversible hydraulic pump 2|. pump may be utilized to pump oil or any other liquid and the lower portion 22 of the housing may be utilized as a .reservoir for liquid to :be drawn into and discharged from the pump. For purposes. of simplicity the piping connections to and from the pump have been omitted.

The shaft of the motor I6 extends downwardly therefrom as seen at 20 in the upper portion of Fig. 2. A pinion gear 25 thereon serves to drive a contacting pinion 26 which in turn drives a worm gear 21 which in turn meshes with a drive gear 28.

The drive gear .28 in turn engages an idler 29 which in turn drives an elongated pinion 30 which is best seen in Fig. 2. v

The sampler member 33 is mounted in a c rriage 34 which is laterally slidable upon the guide pins 35. .In orderto impart rotation to such "coring tool 34, however, an idler 36 is shownas being driven by the pinion 30 but supported-in the carriage 34 so as to turn the core tube drive gear 31. In this manner is seems obvious that the coring member 33 will be rotated while extended and retracted laterally of the housing.

The mechanism for extending and retracting the coring member 33 is shown in Fig. 2 as including a movable block 40 which slides in the interior liner 4| and is guided by the rollers ,42. This block has an'inclined slot 43 therein which receives a roller 44 mounted on the end of the link 45. This link is in turn pivoted on a pin 46 so that the slotted end 41 thereof engages the pin 48 on the side of the carriage 34. x The block 40 is connected to a plunger member 49 which is operable in a hydraulic cylinder 56 having a piping connection 5! to the pump 2|. Thus when the liquid from the pump is directed into the connection 5|, the plunger 49 will force the block 40 upwardly, causing the roller 44 to travel in the slot 43 and to rock the link in a counter-clockwise direction as seen in Fig. 2. During this same manipulation, the operation of the motor turns the gear train so as to rotate the The bers 10. bodies a hydraulic cylinder 1 l, a piston 12 theremember to be fully extended. Such switch will 7 7 reverse the motor [6 which in turn reverses the gearing mechanism and withdraws the liquid from the hydraulic cylinder 59 so as to retract the sampler member by returningthe block 49 to its lowermost position.

In order to compensate for the volume 'of liquid utilized in the pumping operation, the closure cap 60 on the bottom ofthe tool is provided with a flexible diaphragm 6i exposed through the opening 62 to the Well pressure. This diaphragm will breathe back and forth, depending upon the operation of the pump.

, In order that the entire tool may be moved laterally of the well bore to the position shown in Fig. 5 so that the housing I of the tool will more closely approach the side of lthewll bore where the sample is to be taken, the tool has been equipped with upper and loweranchor mem- Each of these anchor members emin and a plunger 13 which will be extended upon the application of hydraulic liquid'to the back the sampler or coring member 33 and in this manner urges the entire tool laterally. A suitable choke may be provided in the hydraulic cylinder 50 so that the first application of hydraulic power may be applied to the upper and lower cylinder H so as to first extend the pin and move the housing over to sampling position and to thereafter extend the sampler 33.

1. Anchoring devices of a construction somewhat similar to those just described have been previously disclosed in my prior copending application, Serial Number 630,199 A filed November 23,

1945 for a Sidewall Goring Device.

Any desired number of the tools may be coupled together and operated either independently or simultaneously as desired.

The casing 15 of Fig. 5 is usually positioned in a well and it is to be understood that the sample or core cutter 33 may be of a material .a housing, a reversible motor therein, a reversible- :of the piston. This' movement extends the pin '13 to engage the opposite side of the well bore of pump operable thereby, a coring member, means operable from said motor including a carriage and a gearing to rotate said member, a linkage mechanism to move said carriage laterally of said housing, hydraulic means operable from said pump including a plunger to extend and retract said linkage.

2. A sidewall coring tool for Wells comprising a housing, a reversible motor therein, a reversible pump operable thereby, a coring member, means operable from said motor including a carriage and a gearing to rotate said member, a linkage mechanism also connected to said carriage, hydraulic means operable from said pump to extend and retract said member by lateral movement of said carriage, and additional means to anchor said housing in the well bore.

3. A sidewall coring tool for wells comprising a housing, a reversible motor therein, a reversible pump operable thereby, a coring member, means operable from said motor including a carriage and a gearing to rotate said member, a linkage mechanism also connected to said carriage, hydraulic means operable from said pump to extend and retract said member by lateral movement of said carriage, and additional means to anchor said housing in the well bore, saidcoring member being constructed to project radially through said housing cut through a well casing.

4. A sidewall coring tool for wells comprising a housing, a reversible motor therein, a reversible pump operable thereby, a coring member,

means operable from said motor to rotate said to each said carrier and said block so as to convert vertical movement of the block into transverse movement of the carriage.

5. A sidewall coring tool for wells comprising a housing, a reversible motor therein, a reversible pump operable thereby, a coring member, means operable from said motor including a carriage and a gearing to rotate said member, a linkage mechanism to move said carriage laterallyof said housing, hydraulic means operable from said pump including a plunger to extend and retract said linkage, and flexible means in said housing to move to compensate for variation in internal volume in said housing due to the pumping of liquid.

' JOHN H. KIRBY, II.

Benke 1 Apr. 3, 1945 

